‘Turkey deported 1,100 European jihadists’

Istanbul: Turkey deported 1,100 European citizens who came to Turkey to join Al Qaeda-linked groups fighting in Syria to their home countries, a Turkish daily reported Sunday.

Ankara has sent a report to Germany, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, the ountries from where the fighters mainly came from, Xinhua reported quoting Haberturk daily.

Turkey arrested these European citizens with the help of the National Intelligence Organisation, Gendarmerie forces and police units in 41 operations in 2013, the report said, adding there are still around 1,500 European citizens who want to go to Syria and fight on the front lines along with Al Qaeda.

Turkey is on alert about suspected jihadists and has been sharing intelligence with European countries in this regard through Interpol, the report said.

The country carried out 141 operations against Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda-linked groups in the last three years, detaining 518 suspects and imprisoning 217 of them.